Equity & Inclusion

Plenaries for the 227th General Assembly (2026) will take place at the Baird Center in Milwaukee, WI. The Baird Center is ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant, including accessible bathrooms, automatic doors, and elevators. Plenary sessions will take place in the Grand Ballroom on the first floor of the Baird Center, a short distance from accessible bathrooms and the Baird Center’s entrance. 

The plenary hall will be arranged in such a way that assigned seats for those with mobility aids are positioned nearest to the end of rows and adjacent to microphones. Commissioners and Advisory Delegates who wish to request this placement can indicate this during registration or by contacting [email protected].

The platform from which business and worship will be led will include ramp access.

For those with temperature sensitivities, we encourage bringing layered clothing for the plenary hall. While Milwaukee is generally warm during the summer months, the Convention Center will be significantly colder. It is helpful for all participants to prepare for these transitions in temperature to help care for their bodies.

All assembly hotels are ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant, with elevators and curb cutouts. Additionally, hotels are all in close proximity to the Baird Center with many including direct skyway access. 

General Assembly staff work closely with all participants during registration to guarantee that those for whom a closer hotel room and/or a room with bathroom supports would be helpful are able to reserve such a room.

General Assembly staff encourage all participants who would benefit from mobility accommodations to indicate this in their registration process. Staff will seek to designate hotel rooms near to the Baird Center, assign seats near the end of rows in the plenary hall, and provide motorized scooters as needed. 

For those who utilize a motorized wheelchair or other device which requires careful transportation to the assembly site, please reach out to [email protected]  so that staff can coordinate the travel which will best care for mobility aids. For participants who are concerned about comfort and stability of seating during travel and meetings, contact [email protected] so that staff can provide solid seating without arms, seek to assign seats near the end of rows, and look into travel options that will best support the participant’s needs.

For those seeking information on support persons to accompany commissioners or advisory delegates, that information can be found in the Equity Support section of this page.

When creating content for the General Assembly Website and MyGA, General Assembly staff seek to prioritize inclusive design principles, including writing text that is accessible to screen readers and other accessibility software, providing image descriptions, and seeking to create web content that can be viewed easily on both mobile and desktop views. Commissioners and advisory delegates seeking additional accessibility for vision support are encouraged to contact [email protected] to arrange access to screen readers, magnifiers, and/or arrange use of an iPad with accessibility features during plenary sessions. 

In recognition of the diverse presence of God among a diverse people of God, the General Assembly seeks to be a welcoming community and space where neurodivergence is valued and supported. Participants are welcome and encouraged to use sensory supports, stim tools, and fidgets throughout the assembly. 

For participants who need a sensory break from the inputs of the plenary hall, a quiet prayer room will be made available in the Convention Center. Additionally, the Baird Center has a Senory Room located just outside of the plenary hall with sensory boards and other tools. Participants are also welcome to wear headphones, sunglasses, or other sensory tools. The Office of the General Assembly encourages all to show up for the work of the assembly in the ways that best enable them to be present as God has made them.

Those who would benefit from knowing the physical layout of Milwaukee and the convention center before attending can access the following resources:

Baird Center Website
Baird Center Virtual Tour & Floor Plans
Google Street View of the Baird Center

For those seeking information on support persons to accompany commissioners or advisory delegates visit the Equity Support Section of this page.

Throughout the assembly participants will be able to contact chaplains virtually. These persons are available to provide prayer, support, and to walk through any experience during the assembly which may cause emotional or mental distress. Information on how to contact chaplains will be made available to commissioners and advisory delegates in MyGA.

Serving on an online committee can be taxing. Participants are encouraged to contact their committee’s Committee Assistant if they find themselves needing to step away from Zoom meetings or turning off their camera for a long period of time. General Assembly staff recognize that in order to fully participate and be present, there may be times in which participants need to take actions which others may perceive as not participating. Committee Assistants are available to make sure screen and attendance breaks are affirmed by committees as appropriate.

The General Assembly staff is grateful for the work of Tricia Hersey and the Nap Ministry for inspiring a shift in understanding around rest in religious spaces. This work, in addition to feedback from several years of assembly participants, has brought about a shift in planning for plenary sessions. The docket now includes a stop time for evening discernment at 9:00pm. This is different from past assemblies, which often worked well into the early hours of the morning. This decision was made with the following benefits in mind:

• God speaks in dreams and in moments of rest throughout scripture. Making space for dreams and rest in the assembly schedule makes space for God.
• Long hours of sitting and sleep deprivation can cause physical and mental strain for all, but especially for those with chronic illness and/or disability. Ensuring time for rest allows all participants to honor the needs of their God-created bodies, expands access for participants with disabilities, and allows for all to prepare for presence and participation during plenary discernment.
• The human brain needs time to process and consider. By creating more time within the assembly schedule outside of plenary meetings, participants may take space to more deeply understand topics and discern more fully.
• Introverts may find more space for recovery from plenary meetings and extroverts may find time to come down from plenary energy in order to rest.
• Providing clear timelines for plenary sessions allows participants to better prepare, participants to communicate with persons in their lives outside of the assembly, and planners to better steward the per capita resources of the church by scheduling defined hours of staffing and support in the Convention Center.